PKEF ACE. 



The substance of these pages originally appeared in 

 Blackwood's Magazine during the years 1856 and 

 1857. They are now republished with considerable 

 alterations and additions, which, it is hoped, will render 

 them more useful to the amateur and student of Natu- 

 ral History. 



I have endeavoured to furnish the visitor to the sea- 

 side with plain directions, by means of which he may 

 study and enjoy the marvels of ocean-life ; and to pre- 

 sent such descriptions of the animals, and the wonders of 

 their organisation, as may interest the reader by his own 

 fireside. With regard to the former, having had to 

 ascertain almost everything for myself, I have tried to 

 make my experience available for others ; and the remem- 

 brance of early difficulties has suggested the statement 

 of many details which to the well-informed may appear 

 trivial, but for which I should myself have been very 

 grateful. The papers in Blachvood were chiefly writ- 

 ten at the coast, where the command of books was 

 necessarily small, and the literature of each subject 



